Hi, is it posible to do it search engine friendly? :)
Quote from: CokeCan on December 06, 2003, 08:30:26 AM
Hi, is it posible to do it search engine friendly? :)
i think [unknown] and Dave already made it spiderable, and shortened the length of urls. Anguz is also working on a monster mod for YaBB that lets you insert keywords into the url through the board edit, and set all kinds of options, including what file extensions you want it to show, in the mod settings. I hope that becomes part of the SMF urls, as it seems to yield optimal search engine results.
Well for Apache users you can make URL's look like this:
http://theterminal.dune2k.com/forum/index.php/topic,164
And by default the URL's are more search engine friendly. Just try searching Google for topics here and you should be able to find them.
Quote from: Gobalopper on December 06, 2003, 03:33:27 PM
Well for Apache users you can make URL's look like this:
http://theterminal.dune2k.com/forum/index.php/topic,164
Thats not actually great since the futhur away from a sites root something is, the less pagerank google will award.
I disagree,
Distance from root is irellevant. Distance from index is.
For each click away from index you can drop one PR unless that page you click to is linked direct from index.
That's why simplemachines.org = PR 5 (high)
simplemachines.org/community/index = PR5 (low)
Any board = PR 3
The boards are the same distance from root as the community index is but are further from Home Index by mouse clicks and therefore PR is lower.
I'd love to be proved wrong on this, but I do not think it's possible to have a board, let alone an individual thread, equal to the home index PR.
The only thing I would like to see in the way of search engine mods is something to keep search engines from trying to follow user-oriented links, such as reply, notify, send topic and print. It clogs up the error log with messages saying guests aren't allowed to do that thing, and is annoying. I already blocked the FastSearch bot from my board because of this.
Guests dont see the reply, notify, send topic on smf :)
Quote from: Oldiesmann on December 20, 2003, 04:09:04 PM
The only thing I would like to see in the way of search engine mods is something to keep search engines from trying to follow user-oriented links, such as reply, notify, send topic and print. It clogs up the error log with messages saying guests aren't allowed to do that thing, and is annoying. I already blocked the FastSearch bot from my board because of this.
For YaBB SE,
1. back up your Display.php
2. add $enable_guestposting to globals in Display.php
3. change this:
Quote
// Compose topic button bar
$topicButtons = array();
if (!$mstate || $settings[7] == 'Administrator' || $settings[7] == 'Global Moderator' || in_array($username,$moderators))
$topicButtons[] = '<a href="' . $cgi . ';action=post;threadid=' . $viewnum . ';title=' . URLencode($txt[116]) . ';start=' . $start . '">' . $img['reply'] . '</a>';
if ($enable_notification) // $enable_notification is defined in settings
$topicButtons[] = '<a href="' . $cgi . ';action=notify;threadid=' . $viewnum . ';start=' . $start . '">' . $img['notify'] . '</a>';
$topicButtons[] = '<a href="' . $cgi . ';action=sendtopic;threadid=' . $viewnum . '">' . $img['sendtopic'] . '</a>';
$topicButtons[] = '<a href="' . $cgi . ';action=printpage;threadid=' . $viewnum . '" target="_blank">' . $img['printt'] . '</a>';
to this:
Quote
// Compose topic button bar
$topicButtons = array();
if ($enable_guestposting == '1' || ((!$mstate) && ($enable_guestposting == '1')) || ((!$mstate) && ($username != 'Guest')) || $settings[7] == 'Administrator' || $settings[7] == 'Global Moderator' || in_array($username,$moderators))
$topicButtons[] = '<a href="' . $cgi . ';action=post;threadid=' . $viewnum . ';title=' . URLencode($txt[116]) . ';start=' . $start . '">' . $img['reply'] . '</a>';
if (($username != 'Guest') && ($enable_notification)) // $enable_notification is defined in settings
$topicButtons[] = '<a href="' . $cgi . ';action=notify;threadid=' . $viewnum . ';start=' . $start . '">' . $img['notify'] . '</a>';
if ($enable_guestposting == '1' || ((!$mstate) && ($enable_guestposting == '1')) || ((!$mstate) && ($username != 'Guest')) || $settings[7] == 'Administrator' || $settings[7] == 'Global Moderator' || in_array($username,$moderators))
$topicButtons[] = '<a href="' . $cgi . ';action=sendtopic;threadid=' . $viewnum . '">' . $img['sendtopic'] . '</a>';
if ($enable_guestposting == '1' || ((!$mstate) && ($enable_guestposting == '1')) || ((!$mstate) && ($username != 'Guest')) || $settings[7] == 'Administrator' || $settings[7] == 'Global Moderator' || in_array($username,$moderators))
$topicButtons[] = '<a href="' . $cgi . ';action=printpage;threadid=' . $viewnum . '" target="_blank">' . $img['printt'] . '</a>';
This should
1) Disable Reply, Send Topic, and Print, unless you allow guest posting.
2) Disable Notify unless the user is a member.
Quote from: Ben_S on December 20, 2003, 04:10:57 PM
Guests dont see the reply, notify, send topic on smf :)
now they don't on my YaBB SE 1.5.4, unless guest posting is enabled, and only members see notify :)
OK, I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that from the evidence I have seen so far that SMF is only partially open to indexing by search engines.
Page one in a thread gets indexed no problems, but any subsequent pages do not.
I've checked this against various threads and they simply do not appear in search results.
I get the feeling that the bots don't like the links between pages.
I could change the /.... I've been planning to anyway.... what should I change it to, though?
(options are: ., |, :, +, etc.)
-[Unknown]
I'd use one of these: , - _
Comma is a no, no... it's used for the queryless URLs. Underscore is already used in parameters... maybe -.
-[Unknown]
I'm a big fan of | just coz it looks cool... too big to be an "l"... so myeh...
any problems with that? (I mean just in general... coz I use it for my cms :-\)
As a thought, would we want the individual pages to be indexed or would we just be looking to concentrate of the "All" option ?
All the individual pages since most people wont be enabling the all option for topics with lots and lots of replies
PR has no bearing how close the page is too the main index ie http://www.somesite.org. This for example http://www.somesite.org/folder/folder2/folder3/stillanotherfolder/page.html could have a higher PR than http://www.somesite.org if that long url is the url you submitted to all the SE and was the page every one linked too. It only because when most link to a site they link to the main index and less for some strange reason that should be where you want them to link too, and same when they submit to the SE. You dont submit some page thats 5 folders down to Dmoz or Yahoo, well I suspose you could but why I wouldnt know. Only reason I could see is for the sitemap since a high PR on the site map is good since it "should" link to every page on your site feeding your other pages with its PR. PR is solely based on how many pages link to that page what thier PR is. PR is not influenced by its location in the sites directory. PR isnt given added wieght for it being the main index or the index thats 5 folders down. Just like if some strange reason Jeff had all the SMF installs link to the chit chat index instead of the main index and submitted the chit chat index to none spidering SE ie Dmoz etc. the PR on the Chit Chat index would be most likely be higher than the main index.
???
I thought we were talking about getting spiders to index pages, not Page Rank ::)
Quote from: Fizzy on December 26, 2003, 03:56:40 AM
???
I thought we were talking about getting spiders to index pages, not Page Rank ::)
oh we were, were we? So not sure why there were at least 2 posts about PR then. Maybe the previous posters didnt realise this was about spidering and not PR. It still is really nothing to roll your eyes over.
Well far as google spidering SMF, SMF must be pretty damn spiderable as I Just checked to see how many pages in www.simplemachines.org were indexed in google and there are 1210 pages indexed.
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,210. Search took 0.07 seconds
And xboxrules.com which is another SMF board has 1900 pages indexed..............I dont think it can get much better for spidering than those results.
Quote
And xboxrules.com which is another SMF board has 1900 pages indexed..............I dont think it can get much better for spidering than those results.
Well that's fine if you are happy with only having page 1 of every thread indexed, but if you have relevant content on page 2, 3 or 100 then it's a waste of time isn't it ? ?
So basically make sure that your good content appears on page 1 or else be happy with the number of pages appearing in Google?
If you re-read my previous you will see that I am talking about the fact that Page 1 gets indexed by SE's and following pages do not. You can sit there and count the number of pages you have on Google all day long, it means squat when it comes to getting the content of the following pages in the Results though.
Is the goal to be "Search Engine Friendly" or just "Partly Search Engine Friendly" ?
Oh I gotcha. Google bot stops after page1 of a thread. Least you didn't roll your eyes. I was affraid they might get stuck like that eventually. So at this point yes SMF is only slightly indexable.
wow... I just found a community with 154,000 pages indexed by Google :o
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=site:www%2Ewebmasterworld%2Ecom+webmasterworld%2Ecom
I knew about it, but never checked how well indexed it was by the search engine :P
I think they created their own forum software that is tuned to be indexed easily.
well... it's not the default install, it's heavily modded from what I remember reading in some of their threads... the reason why I mention it, is to show that forums CAN be very indexable and to have and example we can follow
their urls are obviously a big part of the thing, but I'm checking if there's more to it :P
they are using urls relative to the root too
<a href="/forum3/">Google News</a>
Quote from: Anguz on December 29, 2003, 01:28:09 AM
wow... I just found a community with 154,000 pages indexed by Google :o
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=site:www%2Ewebmasterworld%2Ecom+webmasterworld%2Ecom
I knew about it, but never checked how well indexed it was by the search engine :P
yep, and look how they're formatted:
www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/2657.htm
everything looks like a static page with an htm extension. no wierd characters. nothing but slashes. AND no index.php.
Not everything can be done out of the box. Just because your $80, 000 car can go at 200 mph doesn't mean everyone else on the roads can. SMF is even for those little buggies that still only go a max of 50 mph. (aka IIS.)
-[Unknown]
WW.com has always featured well in search results.
I have always used it for researching spiders and robots.
If you try a Google search for robot names etc you can be fairly sure that WW will come in on the top 5 almost every time with the result taking you straight in to the html page.
It's simple but effective.
Looking at the page links, they use this format
Page 1 - http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/6670.htm
Page 2 - http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/6670-2-15.htm
Page 3 - http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/6670-3-15.htm
always ending with htm extension ? ? ?
Is it possible to end SMF's with php ?
Does SMF's current system of ending as
http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=3410.15
cause a search engine to think that it's not a file at all but perhaps a directory?
I know that I have had problems getting directories indexed if they don't have an index.php or html page.
Just throwing ideas in the pot :)
Everything is possible, the problem is... do we want to support it? There are ramifications to adding features that you guys often do not consider!
Quote from: Anguz on December 25, 2003, 03:53:27 AM
I'd use one of these: , - _
I ended up using "." - I would assume that's fine, it's just that I don't want to conflict with any parameters. (_ definitely would!)
-[Unknown]
Quote from: [Unknown] on December 29, 2003, 10:41:36 AM
Everything is possible, the problem is... do we want to support it? There are ramifications to adding features that you guys often do not consider!
Quote from: Anguz on December 25, 2003, 03:53:27 AM
I'd use one of these: , - _
I ended up using "." - I would assume that's fine, it's just that I don't want to conflict with any parameters. (_ definitely would!)
-[Unknown]
Less the ramifications are going to hamper features, add tremendous burdern to you and the coders, etc I think we should try to get as many pages as possible indexed. It is amazing just how often my forum comes up in google with it only indexing the first page of a thread and the amount of traffic a highly active forum can generate, specailly if you niche is small to begin with. Just my 2.5 cents.
I'm just saying that things like this:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/6670-3-15.htm
Are not going to be done, obviously, except by mods. Just like there are a million ways I could make SMF even faster by using features of MySQL 4, but I can't.
-[Unknown]
Quote from: [Unknown] on December 29, 2003, 11:25:49 AM
I'm just saying that things like this:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/6670-3-15.htm
Are not going to be done, obviously, except by mods. Just like there are a million ways I could make SMF even faster by using features of MySQL 4, but I can't.
-[Unknown]
Well what ever can be done to improve SEO will be appreciated not only for our sites but for this site as well.
Well I guess we can always set mod settings to 1,000,000 posts per page.
I know that Anguz did a cracking mod for YaBBSE with the Smart URL mod which actually formats the URLs very similar to at WW.com, I wonder if he would be kind enough to do the same for SMF ?
Quote from: Fizzy on December 29, 2003, 12:44:15 PM
Well I guess we can always set mod settings to 1,000,000 posts per page.
I know that Anguz did a cracking mod for YaBBSE with the Smart URL mod which actually formats the URLs very similar to at WW.com, I wonder if he would be kind enough to do the same for SMF ?
:)
Quote from: Fizzy on December 29, 2003, 12:44:15 PM
Well I guess we can always set mod settings to 1,000,000 posts per page.
I know that Anguz did a cracking mod for YaBBSE with the Smart URL mod which actually formats the URLs very similar to at WW.com, I wonder if he would be kind enough to do the same for SMF ?
Hell I would either fall asleep or be retired by the time I scrolled to the bottom of word assocaition thread :'(
imagine if every page of every SMF that everyone uses was indexed on a search engine, and contained a copyrighted link back here to SMF! now, why would anyone want to do that? :-\ ;D
Quote from: pege on December 29, 2003, 01:06:37 PM
imagine if every page of every SMF that everyone uses was indexed on a search engine, and contained a copyrighted link back here to SMF! now, why would anyone want to do that? :-\ ;D
Well like I said before not only for our sites but this site.
Quote from: [Unknown] on December 29, 2003, 11:25:49 AM
I'm just saying that things like this:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum21/6670-3-15.htm
Are not going to be done, obviously, except by mods. Just like there are a million ways I could make SMF even faster by using features of MySQL 4, but I can't.
-[Unknown]
I completely agree with you
when I found out the index result for that forum, I was so surprised, and the first thing that came to my mind was to share it here with you guys, so I searched for a Search Engine thread to share it
I just now realize that it's in Feature Requests, I guess I was pretty asleep last night, I didn't mean it as a feature request... I'll write something similar to Smart URLs for SMF
I actually like the way you are formatting the urls here, so don't get it like I'm criticizing your work, cause I'm not :)
Quote from: [Unknown] on December 29, 2003, 10:30:57 AM
Not everything can be done out of the box. Just because your $80, 000 car can go at 200 mph doesn't mean everyone else on the roads can. SMF is even for those little buggies that still only go a max of 50 mph. (aka IIS.)
-[Unknown]
when i was using YaBB perl edition, i had to change to a server that offers mysql in order to even try YaBB SE. if people are serious about getting their site indexed, and creating jillions of links back here to SMF, it's their responsibility to use the right equipment. you could always make a switch in modsettings that enables or disables the url mod.
Quote from: pege on December 29, 2003, 01:32:31 PM
Quote from: [Unknown] on December 29, 2003, 10:30:57 AM
Not everything can be done out of the box. Just because your $80, 000 car can go at 200 mph doesn't mean everyone else on the roads can. SMF is even for those little buggies that still only go a max of 50 mph. (aka IIS.)
-[Unknown]
when i was using YaBB perl edition, i had to change to a server that offers mysql in order to even try YaBB SE. if people are serious about getting their site indexed, and creating jillions of links back here to SMF, it's their responsibility to use the right equipment. you could always make a switch in modsettings that enables or disables the url mod.
he already did, pege, you can already change the url format from the settings
if you don't like the format he chose, you will probably be able to change it without much trouble, since the engine for doing the change is already there
I'll anyway write a mod to make it a bit easier for those that do want a different format but don't know how to do it
about the server, it's true that one should be able to choose the best option, but not everyone can, for many reasons, so he's trying to give as good a solution as possible, that'll help in most configurations
Quote from: Anguz on December 29, 2003, 01:46:22 PM
I'll anyway write a mod to make it a bit easier for those that do want a different format but don't know how to do it
That's very kind of you Anguz :)
Fizzy and pege, PLEASE understand that my big worry is having a big red checkbox the purpose of which is to crash your forum and even apache irrevocably. Unless you can give me some statistic showing that 9999/10000 or more servers have mod_rewrite installed... YOU ARE NOT GETTING THIS FEATURE!
Doesn't this make sense? Maybe someone, if serious about indexing, should only pay the higher price for a better server... that's very true. What about THE PEOPLE WHO JUST WANT A BLINKING FORUM? Do they not get to use SMF, simply because they don't CARE about indexing? Or perhaps because they are not RICH ENOUGH to afford a server that will run SMF?
It's like having a ride at Disneyland that requires you to be 6'3". They'll NEVER make a profit, because there simply aren't ENOUGH people who are that tall.
So, both of you... please, please, please stop being so selfish. SMF is not just for you, it is for the people who can't afford good servers too.
I, on the other hand, am working on PLAUSABLE methods of getting those pages indexed WITHOUT requiring Apache with mod_rewrite. This does, if you'll please forgive me, require some testing - the methods Google uses are not known, so everything is trial and error. I just changed it to use dots, and it hasn't EVEN BEEN indexed again yet, so there is NO WAY to know if that fixed it. We will have to wait and see.
-[Unknown]
If you have the moeny to get a really nice server, why not spend some of that money to pay someone to write a really nice mod for this?
Hey [Unknown],
You make it sound like you are being hounded about this, turst me you are not.
I was only trying to do my bit to help with the project. I'm no good at coding, I never have been so I know I can't help there. But I can and do try to help by bringing things to the attention of the Dev Team that may hopefully prove to either be worth considering for future releases, ideas for mods by other members or just simple little ideas or points that may help to raise issues that may not have even been considered.
I'm not crying for this to be part of a release and I thought that the way I brought in the subject of Anguz's mod was in keeping with the spirit of the thread and the development of new ideas, new ways of making SMF work.
I don't mean to be cynical, but too often lesser mortals like myself get chastised for not realising this or not considering that, but the better programmers do so on the premise that people like me know as much as you do, and to be honest that's not very fair on us lessers.
I'm not a mind reader, I don't instinctively know when changes are made here and the feedback that we get is poor at best. All we get to here is how fantastic SMF will be, how flexible and powerful it is - well when the details are held back from us how on earth are we supposed to be able to make any sort of judgement about what is and is not possible? And before people start lining up with that old line of "get charter membership", bare in mind that I run a non-profit health site funded out of my own pocket and in my own time with a young family to support as best I can and spending money on any sort of internet promotions is simply not an option for me because I don't have it available.
, You simply posted saying "..... Are not going to be done, obviously, except by mods." which I accepted without question, hence my post discussing it as a possible mod, so to go on and start reciting about me being selfish is both unfair and quite frankly demoralizing.
Damn it ! I was just trying to help, not hinder !
I don't expect or deserve to be chastised on a public forum for trying to help in a positive and constructive manner.
Fizzy, when I say "Fizzy and pege" I mean to direct parts of my reply to both of you, other parts to you, and still other parts to him. By no means should you think all of my reply is directed at you - in fact, as a general rule of thumb, I almost NEVER direct an entire post towards one person.
Pege is pushing for this being a feature, and you're complaining about it not indexing all pages when we don't even know if the change I just made fixes that.
But - I do agree... the world would be both a more horrible and better place if everyone could read each other's minds.
Well, okay, I might get a black eye for saying this - but personally, I would *not* like to see people lining up for Charter Memberships until the beta. All another Charter Member means to me is more work.... given, it helps a lot with finding bugs, but having too many just results in more bug reports for the same bugs. I'm *personally* - PERSONALLY - perfectly happy with the current number of Charter Members. That's not to say I wouldn't welcome another, or even 10 more.... but, there is a point when - AS A DEVELOPER - it becomes a little of a hinderance during this time. That's all.
You are still being a little selfish to think this is the most important thing in the world - mostly pege, but I really said both there just so he wouldn't feel singled out. (there goes that plan now.)
-[Unknown]
is it not safe, easy, or practiacal to write code that can detect whether a person is using IIS (e.g. if (!IIS){ load url options }; )?
It's difficult to check other things. It already has apache-only features, just not mod_rewrite-only features.
-[Unknown]
Quote
and you're complaining about it not indexing all pages when we don't even know if the change I just made fixes that.
Since when did I start complaining ? I merely did what no-one else had bothered to do, - CHECK! - In an attempt to help the forum project I took time out to see if the previous changes had made a difference because I didn't see anybody else bothering to do it. I report that back to the people that should be taking notice and get accused of complaining ? ? :o
So you made changes. Did you say bother telling us ? No ! We're left in the dark again.
There are two valuable lessons to be learned here Unknown.
Quote
You are still being a little selfish to think this is the most important thing in the world - mostly pege, but I really said both there just so he wouldn't feel singled out.
Firstly, Don't put words in peoples mouths. I have never said that this was the most important thing in the world, but I certainly would say that it ranks a hell of a lot higher in my opinion than 'dates appearing in Emails' or 'Ban list comments'. If that's where the Dev Team wants to prioritise its time then that's fine by me, that's their right and they are all perfectly entitled to it. It's not for me to dictate or recite and I have no intention of doing so.
Secondly, think twice before you throw ****** in two directions in an attempt to prevent one from feeling bad or singled out. You may only end up with 2 hacked off people instead of 1.
Right now, to be honest I really couldn't care if SMF gets indexed properly or not.
I'll just leave you to your own devices.
alright, alright, take it easy here guys. :)
fizzy, i just noticed it says "Guest" under your name. what's with that?
That means he deleted his account.
sheesh....come on now Fiz.
it probably means his account was deleted... from his las message, he probably did it himself :-\
Quote from: pege on December 30, 2003, 04:13:05 PM
sheesh....come on now Fiz.
Just outta curiousity if a member does that can admins reverse that or is that like too bad so sad?
That is a bummer deal though ???
Least he wasnt charter.
It can be restored if he wishes, I have been in communication with him and really wish I caught this thread sooner.
There is an obvious miscommunication here and one of the things I dislike most is when someone feels shunned by the project - especially when they are actively trying to help the project.
Hopefully he will change his mind...
Quote from: Jeff Lewis on December 30, 2003, 09:18:37 PM
It can be restored if he wishes, I have been in communication with him and really wish I caught this thread sooner.
There is an obvious miscommunication here and one of the things I dislike most is when someone feels shunned by the project - especially when they are actively trying to help the project.
Hopefully he will change his mind...
I emailed him hours ago and I have not heard anything back.
Not reading pages 3 and 4, since lazy, Google has indexed multiple pages in threads on BN.
Yeah google has no problem indexing pages on SMF boards...
Just search for "google popup blocker"
Quote from: Shadow on December 31, 2003, 12:06:12 AM
Yeah google has no problem indexing pages on SMF boards...
Just search for "google popup blocker"
Should show both pages of thread however. Only the very first page of a thread is being index far as I can see. Its too soon to see if that is gonna change yet.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=site%3Awww.boardnation.com+therczone&btnG=Google+Search
Quote from: David on December 31, 2003, 12:33:23 AM
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&safe=off&q=site%3Awww.boardnation.com+therczone&btnG=Google+Search
Sweetness~ Is that actually a word <G>
Fizzy, (see, now almost all this post is gonna be towards you... not all but almost.)
When I say complaining, I speak of repeating the problem. If someone posts a bug report twice, I would call that complaining. Maybe it's not... maybe it's simply double posting. But in my vocabulary, flawed as it is, I call it complaining. I don't mean to cause problems by having different definitions than you.
Your opinion was helpful, was welcome. However, all I could read from your previous replies was that you wanted this mod added and that you felt this issue was over-rulingly important. So, to respond to that, I replied saying (to both you and Fizzy) that it was not going to be added. That was paragraph one, which was directed at both of you. The next part I directed at you was to say that this feature was not the end of the world (or the end of a forum account) and that I was not going to follow what I felt your advice was, and bend over backwards to break everything I've tried to do in SMF just so a few more URLs can be indexed.
Perhaps some changes I make here go more than un-noticed. In fact, I could probably name at least one feature that not a single soul except me knows about. I try to make people aware of these changes, and even post about them. However, the fact is that repeating the problem (saying again and again that pages are not getting indexed.) is not going to make me more likely to solve it - it's going to make me less. This is just how I am, personally... if I've started working on something, and someone goes on about it more and more, I stop.
Right now I'm waiting. I'm waiting to see if this change fixed anything. Even if it were the most important feature in not only the world but universe, I would be powerless to get Google to tell me whether my last change solved anything.
I'm sorry if my post was unclear. I'm sorry if it was difficult to see what I meant by some of it, or difficult to see who I was talking to. I'm sorry if the amplitude of my reply was unguagable.
Again, Fizzy, I listen to your input. I listen to all input - I have read every single topic in this board, meaning even every single post in those topics. I have not skipped one single topic, whether it was yours, Jack's, John's, Clark's, or Mike's. However, once I read it... I am the only person who can tell my self how to take that input.
Perhaps I will put it off.. perhaps I will ignore it simply because I don't care. But, in this case, I am doing things about it - your input is being heard and something is being done. But, now that I've done something, going left and right on it is just going to cause problems like people deleting their accounts.
-[Unknown]
some have already tested url variables for months, know what works, and have furnished these examples from Google with oodles of pages being indexed. i guess we don't really need to sweat it now, because others have already offered to mod these things in if it's not included in the official release. maybe we can all just move on with some form of pro-grade url development that will benefit users and SMF.
Guys and especially to [Unknown],
One of the major drawbacks of using cold text is that it can very difficult to read the true nature of a post or more importantly of the personality of the person making that post.
It seems that Unknown and I have mis-read each other and it ended up with me throwing my dummy out of the pram and upsetting the course of this thread.
Jeff was kind enough to re-instate my membership, so, many thanks for that.
I think I now have a better understanding and appreciation of things now and more importantly of where [Unknown] is coming from and how he works.
I just wanted to offer my apologies for flying off the handle like that to all the members and especially to [Unknown] and the Team.
Welcome back Fiz!
Quote from: Fizzy on December 31, 2003, 11:32:51 AM
I just wanted to offer my apologies for flying off the handle like that to all the members and especially to [Unknown] and the Team.
And we apologize for the miscommunication and welcome you back :)
For now on, lets all count to 10 and then see where we stand ;)
As for Google and search engines - I understand the importance of making things as search engine friendly as possible but the one thing that does bother me is the way the search engines are always changing the way they handle sites....makes it very tough for developers to set thigns up one way and then have to change it all around another time.
I agree Jeff... it is a pain to keep up with their changes
I've been reading and reading on SEO lately and there's so many ways that worked yesterday and won't tomorrow...
and we're talking about the indexing here... then comes the ranking... lol
Quote from: Anguz on December 31, 2003, 12:22:28 PM
I agree Jeff... it is a pain to keep up with their changes
I've been reading and reading on SEO lately and there's so many ways that worked yesterday and won't tomorrow...
and we're talking about the indexing here... then comes the ranking... lol
I just redid about 200 pages for google and your right who knows when what I did will no longer work.
Quote from: Jeff Lewis on December 31, 2003, 11:44:07 AM
Quote from: Fizzy on December 31, 2003, 11:32:51 AM
I just wanted to offer my apologies for flying off the handle like that to all the members and especially to [Unknown] and the Team.
And we apologize for the miscommunication and welcome you back :)
For now on, lets all count to 10 and then see where we stand ;)
As for Google and search engines - I understand the importance of making things as search engine friendly as possible but the one thing that does bother me is the way the search engines are always changing the way they handle sites....makes it very tough for developers to set thigns up one way and then have to change it all around another time.
Far as google goes if you follow thier guidelines you have a pretty good chance of it being consistant. After the Florida update alot of people were screaming thier sites fell way off the SR. Well most of the sites complaining were not following the guidelines and were doing what google calls "spamming the search engine" and google gave them negative weight for that. Anyone who was doing ethnical SEO for google should not have a had a problem with the Florida update. My sites and most of the people on my SEO group on yahoo I belong too had no problems at all with that update.
wb Fizzy
Quote from: [Unknown] on December 29, 2003, 11:25:49 AM
Just like there are a million ways I could make SMF even faster by using features of MySQL 4, but I can't.
What would be involved in optimizing it for MySQL 4? Is it feasible to make that an option, or have a different Querrystring.php file for MySQL 4, or would it require changing every file?
When I say "make it faster" I mean, I could make ALL of SMF faster by using new things MySQL 4 can do. But it would mean completely different queries, and yes I plan to make a mod or for at least some of it.
-[Unknown]
cool :)
here's what Google says about formatting URLs:
http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html
* "Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page [emphasis mine] should be reachable from at least one static text link. "
* "...If you decide to use dynamic pages (i.e., the URL contains a '?' character), be aware that not every search engine spider crawls dynamic pages as well as static pages. It helps to keep the parameters short and the number of them small."